After years of fan clamor, the beloved Assassin’s Creed series finally has an entry set in feudal Japan with this year’s installment, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. I saw a hands-off preview last fall at Gamescom in Germanybut that’s the game has been delayed from its original November release date to February 14 (and then delayed again to March 20) this year. I got my first hands-on time with the game with other journalists, marking a big moment for a game with a lot of anticipation and hype.

My hands-on preview was split into two parts: a one-hour session exploring the game’s prologue along with another three hours of late-game. While I’m not sure how deep into the game I am, my characters are currently level 25 with some legendary armor, and many abilities unlocked.

Set in 1579, the game takes a dual-protagonist approach, which is new to the series. Unlike 2018 Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and 2020s ValhallaGames where you choose a main character from one of two character options, Shadows plays you as a group of characters throughout the game. Ubisoft refers to this dynamic as a “stealth and fight” approach to the game where the various abilities of the characters determine how you progress through areas.

Each character performs differently but can be used for any missions, and can be swapped between multiple points. The first character is Yasuke, a powerful Black samurai who was brought to Japan as a Portuguese slave. His massive build and heavy armor make him a good choice for any missions where you plan to charge straight through the front door and fight your way to the end. If you like killing silently from rooftops and shadows, Naoe is your chosen protagonist: a Japanese ninja who excels in stealth and maneuverability.

Many missions will give you a choice of who to start with and, except for a few instances, you must follow that choice to completion. This means you can’t start a quest playing as Naoe, wandering around and trying to kill enemies, but then immediately switch to Yasuke when you’re spotted and surrounded by enemies. (If you’re free-roaming areas outside of missions, you can switch by simply pausing the game and holding down X.)

That being said, both characters can hold their own in opposing play styles, much harder. Usually, the characters in Assassin’s Creed used to be able to do the same playstyles well, so it was an interesting choice to divide the playstyle strengths between the two protagonists and force the player to weigh their possibilities. versus the style of play they prefer.

This difference came up a lot in the last mission we played where our heroes had to storm a castle and fight a corrupt lord inside. I originally started this mission as Yasuke but I found that fighting through the front gate was very difficult. After a failed attempt, I switched to Naoe and quickly ran through a wall (something Yasuke couldn’t do) and avoided fighting at all. What should have taken me maybe 20 minutes of brawler fighting and draining all of my health items has now been stealthily bypassed in two minutes with no fuss.

However, as the mission progressed, I had to fight my way through the inner halls to the boss at the top. Instead of trying to sneak through these narrow corridors full of enemies, I switch to Yasuke and fight them. It was a fun change of pace.

At this point in the game I have two of Yasuke’s abilities unlocked for me, which are used by holding down RT and pressing one of the buttons on the face of the controller (similar to previous character action games, such as Spider-Man ). The first ability is a very cool, lightning fast running slash that causes the screen to go black and white for a second while I’m talking to the enemy, while the second is a big, powerful kick that sends the my rival by far. the air. I love using both and use them often to carve through groups of enemies.

Both characters can also call support Allies to help during missions, which act like fighting game helps to help in difficult situations. These Allies can be managed, equipped and upgraded back at your base, and used as distractions while trying to sneak or even help when you’re fighting multiple enemies at once. There are two at my disposal: a strong female who specializes in pushing and knocking down her opponents as well as a more stealthy male who tries a shot at the target and then uses a smoke bomb to retreat.

Another form of support is the Scouts, who come into play when you are trying to find more information about your mission. Ubisoft says they’ve taken a “guide, don’t tell” approach to Shadows quests; after all, many of my missions didn’t come with a marker on my map to go to. Instead, it will give me hints of the place or building I need to check out to learn more. During my preview I have access to five Scouts (and it is not clear how I can get more) that I can place anywhere on the map, and they will reveal points of interest. Combining the clues and the Scouts should open the way for me to move towards continuing my quest.

From there you can go to your objective or press left on the D-pad to turn on the pathfinder, a translucent line that will direct you like a GPS. However, the game won’t hold your hand for every objective. There’s a big emphasis on Observation: Holding down the left trigger makes your character focus and the camera zooms in a bit. This will allow you to highlight enemies (which reveals their health and makes them visible through walls), and it also focuses on loot to collect or objectives you are looking for. It’s early to see that rushing blindly into these missions will make things more difficult than if you find a high point and scout the area first (another reason why I like to start on a mission with Naoe).

During my preview, I didn’t understand the overall story these characters were going through. The prologue suggests some motivation for their team-up, but the big mystery box is left hidden. However, longtime fans of Assassin’s Creed will wonder if the Animus, a narrative device that allows modern humans to revisit and play as their heroic ancestors in the past in these strange time, returns. In short, yes it is – in something called Animus Ego. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time in this part of the meta-story, but I can tell you that, once again, there are hackers and glitches and something sinister going on behind the scenes of the seemingly beautiful Animus project.

I’m really looking forward to playing more Assassin’s Creed Shadows. As a man in love Spirit of Tsushimathe feudal situation in Japan quickly excited me. The wait won’t be that long as the game is coming out for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on March 30.

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